"I-It's the Human Empress…!"
A stammered whisper.
Then—
"What the fuck are you doing, idiot?!" Another soldier barked, slamming his hand against his squadmate's shoulder.
"Move! Step aside, you fool!"
The man barely managed to shuffle back before—
"SALUTE!"
Instantly, a synchronized wave of movement—
Laser rifles snapped upright.
Boots slammed together.
Fifty soldiers stood in rigid formation, hands over their chests.
And then, a collective roar—
"EMPRESS!"
Excitement. Awe.
The very ground trembled with their voices.
The barricade, once an unyielding steel wall, now felt more like an open invitation.
The bloody battlefield behind them suddenly felt insignificant.
And Wang Xiao?
His bored expression finally shifted.
"What's going on? Is someone masquerading as an empress now?"
Wang Xiao chuckled, watching as the woman, wrapped head to toe in a gray robe, didn't even look at him—
